The news as of the first coffee this morning, and the music is one of the more underrated singer-songwriters from the 1960s, Donovan, remembered today chiefly for a couple "Colours," "Catch The Wind" and for being the unfortunate foil for Bob Dylan's tour of England in 1966. But people like Nick Drake, for example, owe a large musical debt to Donovan:

China.com, an Internet services provider in China and a Hong Kong listed subsidiary of CDC Corporation and parent corporation for CRM vendor Pivotal, has announced its Web 2.0 Developer Program, which includes $20 million allocated for investment in selected web development partners.

China.com will seek to "establish strategic relationships with leading local Web 2.0 companies to accelerate the development of innovative products and services targeted specifically for the China market," according to company officials.

The company wants to develop the next generation of products and services in online video, social networking, blogs, 3G and broadband content and mobile search. Through direct cash investments, equity investments, lines of credit or a combination of these, China.com will invest up to $20 million in selected Web 2.0 development partners.

Dr. Xiaowei Chen, Chief Financial Officer of China.com, said "we believe that with our strong financial resources, deep partnership with technology leaders like Google and Microsoft and broad understanding of Chinese Netizens, we are well placed to help our Web 2.0 development partners fully monetize their products and services."

CDC Software's product suite includes Pivotal CRM (customer relationship management), c360 CRM add-on products, industry solutions and development tools for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform, Ross ERP (enterprise resource planning) and SCM (supply chain management).

VendorGuru.com has provided the results of studies which show that between 36 and 14 percent of North American companies were using VoIP products and services in 2005, tying the results in to companies' adoption of CRM technology.

Using interviews with 240 companies, Infonetics studies estimate that 36 percent of large, 23 percent of medium, and 14 percent of small North American organizations interviewed were using VoIP products and services in 2005.

Infonetics forecasts "significant increases" in the use of VoIP phone systems across all segments with small business use expected to triple by 2010.

According to Tara Moynihan, managing producer of VendorGuru.com, "We have done exhaustive research on IP Telephony, as well as customer relationship management (CRM) and call center operations vendors."

The Infonetics surveys, conducted over the last three years, also found that in 2005, organizations spent an average of $47,667 on hosted VoIP; a figure that is expected to increase 34 percent to $63,799 by 2007. For managed customer premises equipment during the same period, expenditures are expected to increase more than 160 percent.

According to Matthias Machowinski, Directing Analyst at Infonetics Research, "When companies buy a new phone system, they generally invest in the latest technology, which happens to be VoIP-based now."

Machowinski adds, "Our forecasts show continued steady uptake of VoIP over the next few years, with adoption following a relative straight line, not the S-shaped curve typically seen in the adoption of emerging technologies."

First American MLS Solutions, a division of First American Residential Group and a member of The First American Corporation family of companies, has announced that six organizations have chosen First American's CRM-enabled MLXchange product as their new multiple listing service system.

Four of the six new accounts have also chosen to implement MLX Professional, First American's customer relationship management and Agent Web Site product. With these recent additions, more than half of MLXchange's 220,000 users now have access to the enhanced customer relationship management (CRM) tools that MLX Professional provides.

The new customers have a combined membership of more than 35,000 Realtors and include the Connecticut Multiple Listing Service Inc., the Sarasota Association of Realtors (Florida), the Metro Area Board of Realtors (Arkansas), the Rogers Board of Realtors (Arkansas), the Central Louisiana Board of Realtors and the Regional Multiple Listing Service Inc. (Florida).

Serving more than 16,000 real estate professionals in the Palm Beach area, the Regional Multiple Listing Service (RMLS) used MLXchange alongside its previous MLS for more than a year before making MLXchange its primary system.

"By directly integrating prospecting and client communication tools with property information, MLX Professional eliminates a major source of redundant data entry, saving Realtors significant time and money," said Bryan Foreman, president of First American MLS Solutions.

MLXchange 3.0 is scheduled for release in early 2007 and will include dozens of new enhancements, including several premium features specifically for MLX Professional customers.

Sunrise, Florida-based Learn.com, a vendor of "workforce productivity" products, has announced that Upstream LLC, headquartered in Fargo, North Dakota, has selected the LearnCenter Workforce Productivity Suite to power its global training and communication initiatives.

Wonder whose location the North Dakota crew voted to use for training. "No, honestly, it's no problem for us to come down there, really…"

"Our challenge was to deliver a consistent curriculum to a large and geographically dispersed workforce based throughout three call centers in the U.S. and two centers overseas," said Peggy Ackerman, Director of Training and Quality at Upstream. "Before LearnCenter, we did not have an ability to deliver online training, build and maintain a best practices training portal, provide visible and self serve leadership development or convert legacy training materials such as manuals and PowerPoint presentations into online training."

Ackerman said Upstream's plans for Learn.com's product include using it as a vehicle to launch a new home-based call center solution "using technology to enable a workforce to train from home through online e-learning and assessments."

Calgary-based Guest-Tek Interactive Entertainment Ltd., a vendor of broadband technology to the global hospitality industry, has announced today it has completed an agreement to install its OneView Internet product at the Hilton Warsaw Hotel & Convention Center, Poland. This deployment increases Guest-Tek deployments in the EMEA region to 45 hotels and 8,647 rooms.

The international market represents what Guest-Tek officials consider "significant growth potential," with an estimated penetration for high-speed Internet accessing 2007 of only 9 percent, compared to 39 percent in North America, according to an In-Stat 2005 study.

Opening in early 2007, the new Hilton Warsaw Hotel & Convention Center will have 314 guest rooms and suites. Guest-Tek wired and wireless Internet products will be installed into each of the guest rooms and suites, plus all meeting, convention and public spaces.

Bert Fol, General Manager of the Hilton Warsaw Hotel and Convention Center, said the property's guests will be "looking for more than a hotspot."

If read off-site hit http://blog.tmcnet.com/telecom-crm/ for the fully-linked version. First Coffee^SM accepts no sponsored content.